


Dependence

by tententen



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Lyrium Withdrawal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 08:04:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3562334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tententen/pseuds/tententen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Inquisitor comforts the Commander when he finds himself unable to sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dependence

**Author's Note:**

> A little prompt sent to my inbox

For once, his dreams didn’t have him in a vice. He was having a difficult time falling asleep, but it was the pain of withdrawal keeping him awake. It drove itself into his head like a nail into wood, promising to split his skull open and hopefully save him from his constant torment. It was a perverse feeling to have, but Cullen was was glad for it. Pain was a familiarity that could be tolerated. He could buckle or he could waver, but pain was something he had grown used to and he was sure he could handle the weight. He first met pain during training. He reacquainted himself with it whenever he had the pleasure of sparring fresh-faced recruits. He powered through it while he fought. The rest of his life would certainly contain pain, but he’d always prefer that to lusting after the poison that had chained him for so long.

"Cullen?"

He glanced over his shoulder to blink at Isala, barely able to distinguish her features in the darkness. All he could see were her eyes, glowing as they appraised him. He sighed, shifting further back onto the bed from where he sat on the edge. He turned to lay on his side and brushed his fingers against her cheek. He smiled slightly as she took his hand, bringing his knuckles to her lips. “Your hands are cold,” Isala noted quietly, closing her hands around his fingers and blowing hot air onto them.

Cullen’s restlessness was almost as burdensome as anything else. He had been wound tight all evening, and his struggle to relax only knotted him up and made him tense. It never helped that he tried to keep it to himself, to spare her the energy of worrying over him. It was incredibly frustrating, that he thought to be so selfless the evenings she had with him before leaving Skyhold. “It’s all right if you can’t sleep.” Isala gripped Cullen’s arm, urging him to shift closer. “We could talk.”

"When has talking in the middle of the night done us any good? You’re leaving in the morning," Cullen pointed out softly, drawing his fingers over her side and frowning at the tension in his voice. "Get some rest. I’ll go back to my room so I don’t disturb you."

"I can’t let you do that." The warmth of her body against his made Cullen wonder it was natural or if she was using magic to chase away the chills haunting his bones. Either way, he was grateful for her and how carefully she pressed herself against him, draping her arm over his side and tucking her hand underneath him to envelope him in a pleasant heat. "You shouldn’t be alone right now." She kissed the back of his neck and his shoulder, blossoms of heat growing each place her lips touched, dispersing through him until the cold stiffening his muscles gave way.

“ _Ma serannas_ ,” Cullen murmured, a grin crossing his face at the sudden peal of laughter that Isala smothered against the back of his shoulder. “Was that correct?”

“Yes, _ma vhenan_ ,” Isala could practically feel Cullen smirk at the term of endearment. “It was.”


End file.
